to Claire. As much as he liked Haley, it was clear who was
paying his salary.
By the time Saturday morning came around, Haley had
never been so exhausted. Or so petulant. Snake even slept in
the room beside hers. She couldn’t escape him. She hadn’t
seen any hint of her hostess, so she’d hatched a plan to buy
herself a few hours away from her overbearing babysitter.
“Snake, will you take me to the mall?” Haley asked her
innocent question at breakfast over a bowl of the most
delicious apple cinnamon oatmeal she’d ever had.
Snake was on his sixth bowl. How could anyone consume
so much oatmeal?
He stopped and set his spoon down. Brushed a hand over
his buzzcut. “Uh…”
She nearly laughed at the look of horror on his face. Even
Jean cleared his throat and started working on the few dishes
there were to clean up.
“It’s okay. I’m sure Claire wouldn’t mind. This isn’t a
prison, after all. I can come and go as I please. But, if you
want, clear it with her. I’m not going to try to get a sneaky
meeting in with my dad. I video chat with him every night.
I’m good. We know the rules. And I’m not going to meet some
clandestine lover, although that would be nice, and I’m not
going to meet up with friends and try to dodge you.” That’s
exactly what she was going to do. She’d sent the SOS texts out
last night and her besties had responded in kind.
She couldn’t make a full escape, but she could buy herself a
few hours away from here, in the presence of people she
actually liked and knew well. She needed to tell someone
about this. She wasn’t sure if that was against the rules, but